Date of Award
8-2009
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
History
First Advisor
Dr. Larry Simon
Second Advisor
Dr. David Kutzko
Third Advisor
Dr. Howard Dooley
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Campus Only
Abstract
In 1288 CE, the Dominican monk Riccoldo da Montecroce traveled to Palestine on pilgrimage. He lived for the next ten years in Baghdad, not only studying Arabic and the Qur'an, but also attempting to convert locals to Catholicism. While in the East, Riccoldo composed the Liber Peregrinationis, a record of his travels to, and time in, Baghdad. This thesis examines Riccoldo's descriptions of Mongols, Eastern Christians, and Muslims in this work to determine his biases and establish criteria that he used to denigrate or praise these groups. This study concludes that while Riccoldo was generally consistent in his criteria for evaluating Mongols, Eastern Christians and Muslims, he did not in his polemic, however, condemn the behavior of individual Muslims, only the tenets of their religion.
Recommended Citation
Graf, Rachel E., "A Voyage East: The Liber Peregrinationis of Riccoldo da Montecroce" (2009). Masters Theses. 252.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/252